ABIDJAN: Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions benefited from sunshine and patchy rains last week, farmers said on Monday as they awaited the start of the dry season and the arrival of the dry, potentially harmful Harmattan desert winds.
The 2014/15 October-to-March main crop in the world's top cocoa grower opened early in October.
Exporters on Monday estimated that around 61,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to Ivorian ports between Nov. 10 and 16, bringing cumulative arrivals to around 342,000 tonnes, down slightly from last season.
The Ivorian dry season typically runs from mid-November to March. Farmers are expecting an abundant harvest of quality beans through January thanks to good soil moisture levels.
They voiced concerns, however, that a strong Harmattan - a dry, dusty wind that generally blows in from the Sahara from December to March - could trim output.
In the southern region of Divo, farmers reported two good showers mixed with strong sunshine.
"Right now, everything is going well. But we are waiting to see the Harmattan, because if it's strong from December, we'll lose lots of small pods and we'll see less harvesting in February," said Divo farmer Amadou Diallo.
In the western region of Soubre, in the heart of the cocoa belt, an analyst reported 34 millimetres of rainfall, compared with 69 mm the previous week.
"The pods are piled up on the plantations. There was lots of harvesting last week," said Lazare Ake, who farms in the outskirts of Soubre. "There's still good rainfall. We'll have big, good quality beans into January."
Good growing conditions and were also reported in the southern regions of Aboisso, Agboville, and Tiassale and in the western regions of Duekoue and Gagnoa.
In the centre-western region of Daloa, which produces a quarter of Ivory Coast's national output, farmers said hot weather was helping to slow an outbreak of fungal black pod disease.
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